Should i buy a GTX970 now?

[Samaritans]

We are all excited about the new "Pascal" GPU coming out according to rumors sometimes mid 2016. I would think after Pascal comes out, those Maxwell 2.0 GPUS, so GTX 900s price would go down a bit.
Right now i have a mac running some pc games and i really want to build my own PC to run 1080p at a mid-high range gaming. I can afford waiting since i can still play fine on mac. Now there's a sweet deal on Newegg.com that makes the Gigabyte 970 G1 Gaming to $317 after rebate w/ the division game code. Should i go for it now or should i wait later?

Any suggestions are welcome

Thanks

 

[mcnumpty23]

i would hold on

gtx970 prices are long overdue to come down my msi g4 gaming is still selling for around £35 more than when i bought it last november

but if you want that game its not a bad deal

or when i got my gtx970 i just put the free far cry 4 it came with on ebay and got some of the cost of the card back from selling the game

 

[sizzling]

If you can wait it seems best but remember the 970 has already dropped in price so its replacement although more powerful I would also expect to be more expensive, similar to the 970's original price. We also don't know what cards will be released and when and how long after launch they will hit the shops

 

[10tacle]

I don't see 9xx prices dropping much more than they have now. The pattern has trended more for retailers/e-tailers to allow their stocks to sell out rather than put them on a fire sale at half off. I've seen this trend since the 6xx cards specifically. My EVGA 680 SC cards cost $520 (US dollars), but when the 770 refresh came out, the cards were still selling for $400+, or the same cost as a new and faster 770. The same thing happened with the 7xx series when the 9xx came out.

I don't see 970s being dropped in price to $250 because Pascal comes out. And nobody knows the pricing structure of the 970 replacement or its performance, but if I were betting on it, I'd say it would in the $350-$375 range and have 980 performance.

 

[azzazel_99]

You can get a evga super superclocked 970 for $309 right now on new egg. I promise you they arent dropping anymore than that. The SSC 970 is a monster of a card and priced at $309 is a steal!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487088&cm_re=970_ssc-_-14-487-088-_-Product

 

[10tacle]

You can get a evga super superclocked 970 for $309 right now on new egg. I promise you they arent dropping anymore than that. The SSC 970 is a monster of a card and priced at $309 is a steal!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487088&cm_re=970_ssc-_-14-487-088-_-Product

^^This....I've got two of them suckers in SLI and have them overclocked on top of the factory overclock to 980 SLI performance. They are awesome cards and destroy my 1440p games. And I bought them when they had just came out and paid $350ea.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2015/05/08/evga-geforce-gtx-970-ssc-acx-2-0-review/9

 

[Samaritans]

You can get a evga super superclocked 970 for $309 right now on new egg. I promise you they arent dropping anymore than that. The SSC 970 is a monster of a card and priced at $309 is a steal!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487088&cm_re=970_ssc-_-14-487-088-_-Product

I think i wanna stick w/ Gigabyte, i like the look and it has a backplate. From what i heard, you can overclock it more than EVGA, and i heard people say EVGA 970s has coil whine

 

[azzazel_99]

The ssc also is one of the few that has a custom pcb and not the reference pcb too! I got the SC 970 to go with my wifes pc (i5-2500k, 8gb crucial ram, msi mobo and now the 970) and holy crap this thing DESTROYS 1080p gaming. She plays division mostly and we are in the darkzone everytime we play so its around other online players and man it destroys the game. Her 560ti classified that was in there played it on low settings but we replaced it with the 970 and BAM 60+ fps all the time on full settings and it isnt even breaking a sweat! That game has some SERIOUS awesome graphics too and even with my 2 780ti's her lonely 970 has blown me away!

 

[10tacle]

I think i wanna stick w/ Gigabyte, i like the look and it has a backplate. From what i heard, you can overclock it more than EVGA, and i heard people say EVGA 970s has coil whine

You can't go wrong either way. Both cards overclock like beasts.

 

[azzazel_99]

Actually ALL video cards are subject to coil whine but it goes away. Also only some gigabyte cards come with the back plate but beware gigabyte is also known (search the web about it) for having some seriously warped pcb's. They used to be great quality but lately i have come across alot (as i was searching for my wifes 970) of threads and posts talking about how poor quality the pcb's were and how bent and warped they were. Also their bios's having issues. Mind you this was all found while searching for the right 970 for my wife. I went with my gut and chose the company i always use (evga) and havent had any issues. The coil whine people complain about also isnt even audible when playing a game unless you have the sound muted. Put on headphones and even with sound muted you cant hear it. My cards like many others had some for about a week and then it was gone. MSI is another company i like because of their coolers. Asus as well. But all the companies, evga, msi, asus, gigabyte, zotac, pny and galaxy have all had coil whine it isnt just a evga thing.

 

[Samaritans]

Actually ALL video cards are subject to coil whine but it goes away. Also only some gigabyte cards come with the back plate but beware gigabyte is also known (search the web about it) for having some seriously warped pcb's. They used to be great quality but lately i have come across alot (as i was searching for my wifes 970) of threads and posts talking about how poor quality the pcb's were and how bent and warped they were. Also their bios's having issues. Mind you this was all found while searching for the right 970 for my wife. I went with my gut and chose the company i always use (evga) and havent had any issues. The coil whine people complain about also isnt even audible when playing a game unless you have the sound muted. Put on headphones and even with sound muted you cant hear it. My cards like many others had some for about a week and then it was gone. MSI is another company i like because of their coolers. Asus as well. But all the companies, evga, msi, asus, gigabyte, zotac, pny and galaxy have all had coil whine it isnt just a evga thing.

Thank you for answering, i think i am still going for the Gigabyte G1 gaming one because of the backplate.

 

[lieutenantfrost]

Pascal is being announced in about 14 days, you'll see the new card at the start of the 3rd quarter. So about 8 weeks after that. 970 is a lower tier card for the demands of current titles, with respect to other posters in this thread, pascal is a 2 generation leap forward as the last cycle was skipped. 970 price will most certainly come down, as all new cards are said to be "Titan Grade" To say nothing of the fact that your dollar will buy you more performance if you wait. GPUs are on a 2 year refresh cycle and we are at the end of that cycle now. not close to it, @ it. Don't forget, everything is going 4k, and it will be the standard by the end of this year. None of the current maxwell cards can push 4k at 60FPS unless you want to buy two 980tis and run them sli. GPU tech is currently behind the trend and things are going to catch up in a hurry in the second half of this year.

I won't say youre foolish to buy now, but it doesn't make very good fiscal or performance sense to do so.

 

[Samaritans]

Pascal is being announced in about 14 days, you'll see the new card at the start of the 3rd quarter. So about 8 weeks after that. 970 is a lower tier card for the demands of current titles, with respect to other posters in this thread, pascal is a 2 generation leap forward as the last cycle was skipped. 970 price will most certainly come down, as all new cards are said to be "Titan Grade" To say nothing of the fact that your dollar will buy you more performance if you wait. GPUs are on a 2 year refresh cycle and we are at the end of that cycle now. not close to it, @ it. Don't forget, everything is going 4k, and it will be the standard by the end of this year. None of the current maxwell cards can push 4k at 60FPS unless you want to buy two 980tis and run them sli. GPU tech is currently behind the trend and things are going to catch up in a hurry in the second half of this year.

I won't say youre foolish to buy now, but it doesn't make very good fiscal or performance sense to do so.

Do you have a proof of what you said about Pascal?

 

[lieutenantfrost]

Which part? the release schedule? its easily findable on google (yes from reliable sources) I've been reading extensively on it as I am in the process of building a new gaming rig and I don't want to buy dead tech

 

[azzazel_99]

First off a 970 handles anything you throw at it at 60 or better and won the best card for 1080p on toms review. Also its not a 2 generation leap. It goes from maxwell which is the 900 series stuff to pascal. Where are you getting this 2 gen leap? I own a 970 and i can attest first hand it handles even the newest triple A titles like division with ease. Yes there are some games as with ANY card that will show a cards weaknesses like witcher 3 or crysis 3. Hell 290's and 280's are still in the $200-300 range and thise are last years stuff so yes the 970's will drop a little bit but it wont be some drastic drop like people are making it seem. Thats never happened. Lol @ dead tech comment. Dont be so dramatic. My 780ti's are still very much so alive while yes there is more advanced "tech" since kepler, my kepler cards are still dominating games so to refer to them as "dead" is silly.

 

[lieutenantfrost]

With respect, your not looking at the bigger picture. There are HUGE leaps coming this year. The 2 gen leap I referenced was in terms of the business cycle. Nvidia skipped it last year and this year they are behind the curve for the technology demands that will be required to keep pace with systems going forward. Thats why pascal is a much larger leap forward than maxwell was. your 780tis or even a 970 won't be pushing 4k on any system come 4th quarter. When the new cards release in 8 weeks they will all be "Titan Grade" and anything below that will essentially be "dead tech" going forward. 970 runs fine today as Im sure your 780's do in SLI but I don't want to pay top dollar for tech that is going to be outdated within the next 2 quarters. Because they skipped the last cycle current cards will be substantially discounted to clear inventory as they are incapable of meeting the demands on VR or 4k nobody is going to pay the better part of 800 bucks (980ti) for a card that can't do those things.

TLDR
This is not the same refresh cycle as in times past.

 

[azzazel_99]

lol @ dead tech considering my 560ti still plays division at 1080p and bf4 on high. I dont know why you think this is going to happen because this hasn't happened in the last like i dunno 10 years? 4K is coming one day yes but in the grand scheme there is maybe 5% of the entire gaming community (pc) that is on or wants to be on 4k. That other 95% is happy with 1080p, 1440p or 1600p. Pascal will bring improvements just like maxwell did but dont forget there was a 800 series card (just on laptops) so really nothing was "skipped" like you said. You are using terms like "dead tech" which is false. To you maybe dead tech, but to those who dont give a rats ass about 4k there isnt really any dead tech. Like i said my spare system has a fx6300 and a 560ti classified and im able to game on more than a few Big hit games like bf4, bioshock infinite, division etc with out any problems. So you can call what will soon be called last years tech dead but buddy thats a personal opinion and its yours. Obviously the OP doesnt care about 4k otherwise he wouldn't be buying a 970 so im pretty sure the 970 is going to be fine at 1440 and 1080 for a long time to come. Just as my 780ti's are fine at 1440 and 1080 for still another couple of years. 4k is still in its infancy and will be for another couple of years until a card like a 960, 970, 380, 380x etc can play 4k at 60fps and cards on that level of performance on that level of the hierarchy are still a few gens away. Cross your fingers but pascal is just the beginning. Hell there is already stuff nvidia pascal cant do in DX12 because it doesn't have the capability. We'll see in a few days what pascal is all about and im sure they will be impressive but to call something thats still as new as maxwell "dead tech" you sir are clearly one of those who upgrade every single generation just to say he has the newest stuff. I'll let you know how my 780ti's and 970 are doing in a year at 1440 and 1080.


Also Steam has a VR test to test your system and gpu's to make sure your pc can do vr and it lets you know at what scale. My pc damn near maxed out the scale and the system with the 970 in was well into the green on the high end of that scale. So i dont know where you are getting your info about not doing VR but you are sadly misinformed. Also a 980ti is $600-$650. All your info is so wrong.

 

[lieutenantfrost]

Friend, I am not arguing with you or the fact that a 970 is a capable card or that older cards can still be made to eek out performance on top tier titles. I mentioned the 970 to OP only in terms of price to performance ratio, and in that case it was better to wait for pascal to release terms of value for dollar. As the price WILL come down. The dead tech reference is apt IMEO, because this generation of cards won't be able to preform in terms of their price this time next year. Nvidia pushing the term "TITAN GRADE" is deliberate in order to draw a very clear and distinct line between the pascal generation of cards and their capability from maxwell and I personally feel that a customer should get more value for their dollar than less than 12 months at maximum utility. You may feel otherwise and that is "Ok"

Im not sure why you think 4k is still years away, 4k is here now, on TV's and in OTT video streaming services, currently they are forecasting 8k in the TV market by the end of 2017. it also puzzles me why you think the users of this forum are those who are content with "making do" with less than the top performance of the tech they buy or the ability to maintain that going forward. Toms forum members are by definition the enthusiast market, of which you yourself are a member by your gpu expert status.

When I buy a Graphics card I want to know what its min and max performance will be and what lifecycle I can expect from it at top specs before it begins to underperform. While I don't upgrade every cycle, struggling with dated tech to give me less than ultra settings on the games I play and paying more than I have to for the privilege, is simply not a worthwhile investment of my time or money. Even users who build budget systems still like to be informed about where their purchases fall in the life cycle of the product and what kind of value they can expect to receive. When I am about to drop the better part of 1k on a GPU, it being "good enough" is simply not good enough.

Good Day.